Pak army chief defends Saeed while US worries
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has defended Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, saying he had the right to raise the Kashmir issue like every citizen of the country.
“Like every other Pakistani, Saeed can also take up the Kashmir cause,” Bajwa told lawmakers in a rare briefing on Tuesday.
Bajwa’s statement came close on the heels of former dictator Gen Parvez Musharraf declaring support for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) terror groups founded by Saeed .
Bajwa, speaking at an ‘in-camera session’ of the Senate Committee of the Whole in Islamabad, also said he would resign if the military was found involved in the recent widespread protests by hardline religious groups which had paralysed the capital Islamabad for weeks.
SAEED’S POLITICAL FORAY: USA CONCERNED
The US has concerns about Hafiz Saeed running for office in Pakistan in 2018, a senior Trump administration official has said.
Saeed had confirmed that his organisation would contest the 2018 general elections in Pakistan under the banner of the Milli Muslim League. The party is yet to be registered with the election commission of Pakistan.
“Saeed, who was released by Pakistan from house arrest last November resulting in angry reaction from the US, was the “mastermind” of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and is leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba,” state department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in Washington.
“It’s a group that the US government considers to be a terror organisation. We have many conversations with the government of Pakistan. One of the things that happened recently was that this guy was held on house arrest.
“Now there’s word that he may be running for some sort of office,” she said, adding the US has concerns about Saeed running for office.
› We have a $10 million Reward for Justice programme that would reward for information that would bring him to justice.. And we would certainly have concerns about him running for office. HEATHER NAUERT, US state department spokesperson